2019 Summer Sleeper: Oakland Raiders

Noah Ballweg Posted On July 24, 2019

In our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series, DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion here in the Premium Content section.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.
Deep Sleepers – An end of the roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.
Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top-175 or so.

Because we aren’t going to give you the likes of mainstream sleepers, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Adam Thielen is going to spring up. Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below.

While thousands of fantasy football fans will be keeping their eyes on the Oakland Raiders off-season via the lens of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” there is one summer sleeper who you will want to take an even further look into before completing all of your drafts. Head coach Jon Gruden continues his rebuild of the Raiders roster, and while there was little focus in the draft on the offensive side of the ball, we still had plenty of young prospects to choose from.

The Raiders’ primary focus in the 2019 off-season was replacing the gap left by running back Marshawn Lynch and lack of talent at wide receiver after trading away Amari Cooper. Oakland ranked in the bottom half of almost every statistical category offensively, and defensively. They ranked 28th in points scored and dead last in defensive points allowed.

To appease the lackluster offensive rankings, the Raiders added Antonio Brown via trade from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tyrell Williams via free agency and drafted Josh Jacobs with one of their first-round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft.

While it is almost completely certain that Brown and Williams will have the WR1 and WR2 slots locked in on the Raiders offense, there is one underlooked receiver who went undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft, but has the skillset to potentially break out in his first few seasons in the league.

Keelan Doss, WR

Category: Super Deep Sleeper

Doss put up historical numbers during his four-year tenure at FCS UC-Davis.

The 23-year-old played 44 games, totaling 321 receptions, over 4,000 receiving yards and 28 touchdowns. Most will overlook these stats as they were accrued at the FCS level which generally pales in comparison to the FBS competition. Nevertheless, Doss proved to be a productive, efficient and consistent performer when on the field.

He was penned as a fifth or sixth-round draft pick by most scouts and mock drafters, but fell undrafted after many wrote him off due to a concerning pectoral injury suffered at the Scouting Combine. The 6’3”, 201-pound receiver had to drop out of testing because of this, but he did recover to run a mid-4.4 40-yard dash during his pro-day at a later time.

Much to the surprise of dynasty owners, Doss wound up as an undrafted free agent when all was said and done. The Raiders were quick to sign the local product and he has since been making a name for himself during rookie minicamps and OTAs. However, Jon Gruden’s love for Doss began well before Doss was ever a Raider. For those who tuned into the Reese’s Senior Bowl, you may remember Doss being one of the first players to receiver a Raiders helmet sticker for his efforts on the field.

As stated prior, we know Antonio Brown and Tyrell Williams will be on the field, but who will fill the slot and which receivers will fill in the WR3/4 roles for Oakland in 2019? Oklahoma State product Marcell Ateman blossomed towards the end of his rookie 2018 season, mostly due to opportunity and a depleted Raiders roster. Despite the playing time he saw, it would be silly to assume that Ateman will get those same opportunities again.

JJ Nelson arrived in Oakland from the Arizona Cardinals and figures to give a run at some reps, but the four-year pro only saw 19 targets in 14 games in 2018 after having 135 targets in the prior two seasons combined. The fresh start for Nelson could prove to be beneficial for the speedy receiver but the combined speed and size of Doss could outweigh the potential the Raiders see in Nelson.

Lastly, Doss will have to fight off Hunter Renfrow, the Raiders fifth-round pick. Renfrow has raised eyebrows since his days at Clemson, helping the Tigers win multiple National Championships. He continues to do so and the coaching staff in Oakland has been impressed with his performance thus far in OTAs. Similar to Nelson, I think Doss again has the advantage given his ability to play the slot at his size. His 6’3” frame combined with his quickness will allow for mismatches down the field as defenses focus primarily on Antonio Brown.

Currently Doss has no startup ADP or rookie draft ADP data with DLF. This means if you have already drafted, the odds that Doss is sitting available and waiting to be stashed on your roster are very high. If you play in deeper 12-plus man leagues, I would not hesitate to add him as I predict he will develop into a player oft-talked about in the future, coming out of the FCS and dominating at the professional level. Although his age (23.3 years) is concerning and ultimately he could have passed his breakout age, only time will tell of his opportunity and true NFL skillset.

Still need more convincing? Check out Doss’s highlight reel and see for yourself.